Dancing Queen
by mercurybard
Summary: What if Chase hadn't abducted Sarah from the dance? ReidSarahTyler


Disclaimer: I don't own _The Covenant_. People should be thankful for that.

A/N: I should, by all rights, be working on my response to Pamala's Michael/Sara smut challenge. Right. Anyway, this assumes Chase never collected Sarah from the dance before heading out to the barn. Because, it seemed a little unlikely that he could just snatch her so easily away from two of the Sons of Ipswich.

-----

It didn't take a genius to see Sarah was bored. Bored and worried. Reid watched as she bit her thumbnail until the skin underneath bled and then moved on to another finger. All around, their classmates swirled by in riot of color and laughter, completely oblivious to the fact that somewhere out there, one of their own was battling for his life. His life and the lives of everyone he loved.

Reid looked at his watch—twelve minutes since Caleb Ascended. He could feel the pull on the Power as his friend duked it out with Chase Cullens—it made his head throb with the intensity of the two of them using at the same time. All that energy zinged through him, just under the skin, and threatened to drive him mad. "Go dance with her, Tyler," he said suddenly as the music changed to a slow song.

Beside him, the youngest of the Sons of Ipswich shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. "Why me?"

"Because I'm older than you and I say so." Because Reid didn't want to be the one holding Sarah while she thought only of Caleb. It still stung that she'd chosen Caleb over him.

"By two weeks…"

Sarah turned away from the dancers and looked from one of them to the other. "It's ok—nobody has to dance with me." She'd switched from chewing on her nails to fiddling with the end of the long white ribbon that hung from her throat.

Tyler flushed. "I didn't mean I didn't want to dance with you…"

"He's just got no rhythm," Reid cut in.

The dirty look Tyler shot him was priceless.

"Well, if that's the only problem, then come on," Sarah said, taking Tyler's hand in hers. "It's a slow dance—you just need to shuffle your feet and sway a little."

-----

_This is nice_, Tyler thought as he and Sarah turned in a slow, small circle on the dance floor. She'd put her arms around his neck and now rested her head on his chest. Her hair smelled like the lilacs that covered the back fence of the Parry estate, and she felt very soft and warm in his arms. Maybe dancing wasn't as awkward as he'd thought.

Not for the first time, he envied Caleb. Not because he wanted Sarah for himself like Reid did, but because Caleb now had someone who shared his secret, other than the guys. Someone he could trust not to betray them all. Someone who hadn't run screaming the first time she saw his eyes go black as night with the Power.

A sigh shuddered out of Tyler. His own mother hadn't found out about the Covenant until after his parents had gotten married. It had always unnerved her, she claimed. That was why she'd divorced his father. But not before giving birth to Tyler. He resented her a little for that.

"Hey," Sarah whispered, lifting her head, "Are you ok?"

Her smile, he decided, doth teach the lamps to burn bright…or whatever that Shakespeare quote was. He'd slept through _Romeo & Juliet_. Tragic love really didn't interest him. Especially since he seemed doomed for it one day. All the Sims men were. "Yeah, just thinking about Caleb," he half-lied.

Her smile dimmed, and he wanted to kick himself for being such a fucking idiot—he was supposed to be distracting her. "Do you think he's okay?"

"It's Caleb," Tyler said, trying to force a smile for her. "He's always comes out on top, in everything. If there's one of us who could beat down Chase, it's him. Besides," he leaned in close to her ear to whisper, "I can feel him using." That wasn't a lie—Caleb and Chase were drawing on such Power that some of it seemed to be spilling over into him. He felt antsy, like he was about to explode if he didn't do…something. Every inch of his skin tingled, and he wondered how Sarah couldn't feel it.

Then the music changed to a faster, happier song. There was no way Tyler was going to be able to dance to this one. He started to disengage, to pull away and go back to the safety of the buffet table, but Sarah wouldn't let go of his hand. Instead, she spun around in his arms so her back was to him and looped one arm up and behind his neck. "Move with me," she commanded, her butt pushing against his pelvis as she wiggled.

Tyler felt his cheeks go instantly red.

-----

Sarah lost herself in the music, grinding shamelessly against Tyler. It was either this or fretting over what was happening with Caleb. 'Fretting'—that made it sound like she was some sort of damsel in distress waiting for Caleb to finish off the bad guy and come rescue her. For some reason, that didn't sound nearly as appealing as it had earlier in the evening when they'd said good-bye on his driveway. With the Danvers' mansion as a backdrop, their moment together had been like something out of her mother's cheap romance novels. All that had been missing were the violins.

But did she want a story book romance? The last few days had been mind-boggling. Meet cute boy, start dating cute boy, and then find out cute boy has superpowers that someone else is trying to steal. There hadn't been much time in there to breathe, much less figure out what it was she wanted.

Tyler, for instance, was just as hot as Caleb, and she doubted that what she was feeling as she pressed against him, guiding him along in the dance, was his belt buckle…

The crowd parted slightly to let Reid slide through to them where they moved at the center of the dance floor. Reid too for that matter—though he was more attractive when he kept his mouth shut. He stepped in close to her, placing one hand on her hip just below where Tyler's arms wrapped around her waist, and began to move in sync with them. Tyler, seeing a chance to escape, started to pull away, but she reached behind her and grabbed hold of the hair at the back of his head.

"That's it," she said aloud.

"What's it?" Reid asked, looking at her from under the shadow of his bangs.

There was something very cat-like about him, Sarah decided. He reminded her of a panther, despite his fair coloring. "I'm done being scared," she announced. Reaching out, she slid her hand up under Reid's untucked dress shirt and hooked her index finger through his belt loop. "I'm sick of spiders, of feeling like someone's watching me in the shower, of all that crap. In two years, I'm going to go to Harvard, but for now, I just want to have some fun."

-----

So sweet little Sarah wanted to have fun, huh? Reid looked over her head at Tyler, who seemed to finally be getting more comfortable, pressed up against her back and moving to the music. "Ten bucks says a white thong."

_Dude, did you really just say that_?—that's what the look Tyler shot him said, but what came out of his mouth was, "Pink lace."

"What is it with you and pink lace?"

Sara looked from one of them to the other. "You guys are betting what kind of underwear I'm wearing?"

"It's this little game Reid likes to play," Tyler tried to explain.

He shrugged and gave her a playful smile. She didn't looked shocked, and she wasn't hitting him and screaming about what a perv he was…hell, maybe she'd even play along. "So," he whispered into her ear, "Are you going to tell us?"

"Better yet," she whispered back, "I'll show you—_both_ of you." Dragging on his belt loops, she pulled him across the last few centimeters between them and smashed her mouth against his. The kiss caught Reid by surprise—mouth open—and she took advantage of that, sliding her tongue between his lips and tasting him.

Some part of his brain went _what is she doing?_ and another part went _damn, she's hot_. Then his brain just about shut down altogether as she teased his tongue into her mouth and started to suck on it.

Sarah broke the kiss suddenly. "Let's get out of here," she said and flashed that mega-watt smile of hers. Grabbing his wrist with one hand and snagging Tyler's hand with the other, she hurried them through the packs of dancers and out of Spenser's gymnasium.

The halls of the old prep school were quiet except for a few roving members of the faculty intent on keeping the students from sneaking out of the dance and roaming the halls. The three of them scurried from one cross-hall to the next, peaking around corners and trying not to giggle.

"Where are we going?" Tyler asked as Sarah crept up to set of locked doors leading to the science wing.

Reid had the sudden urge to hit him—when a girl drags you into a deserted part of the school late at night, you don't ask questions…especially if she'd just French-kissed one of you. Reaching out to the limitless pool of Power, he focused on the door. There was a faint snick, and it opened under Sarah's hand.

"Shh!" she hissed, laying a finger against Tyler's lips. "Come on!"

-----

They ended up in a biology lab. Reid used again to unlock the classroom door, and then the three slipped inside, shutting it behind them. The floor-to-ceiling windows looked out onto Spenser's back lawn, illuminated now and then by flashes of lightning.

Sarah walked to the window, hugging her arms to herself as she gazed out at the storm. Somewhere, out there, her boyfriend was fighting for his life. And, here, she'd just dragged two of his best friends off for a make-out session. That's what she had intended, bringing Reid and Tyler here.

If she'd come this far, she might as well go all the way. "Tyler," she called back over her shoulder, "Could you get my zipper?"

There was a brush of air against her back, and then the zipper slid down seemingly of its own accord. She knew that if she looked back at him, his eyes would be solid black, darker than the sky outside. The feel of his power on her back made her skin prickle. Reaching back, she unhooked her strapless bra, shedding both it and the dress at the same time. Then, she carefully crossed her arms over her breasts before turning back to face the guys in nothing but heels and her panties.

It was embarrassing and exhilarating at the same time, to feel their eyes roaming over her. Sarah had never been an exhibitionist before, but she'd had her share of fun back in Boston. Where was it written that bookish girls couldn't be sexy? Tonight could be the craziest, sexiest night of her life if she played her cards right.

Reid spoke first. (Tyler seemed to be too busy trying not to swallow his tongue.) "White lace—looks like we both lost this time."

"Or," she corrected, smiling like an idiot, "You both won."


End file.
